Dungeon of Niflheim

“Master is currently busy designing a new monster race so he will not be available to aid you in battle. You’ll need to handle this wave by yourselves, don’t disappoint him.” Nanna spoke with a strict warning, sending shivers down the backs of those who listened.

“We wouldn’t dream of it Lady Nanna; the secondary defence zone may be different than the kill box but with our current line up there shouldn’t be any issues. Master will not be required anytime soon.” Findlay struck his chest in salute while giving a confident reply. If half a dozen C-ranks and dozens of D-rank monsters couldn’t handle a single maddened wave then they didn’t deserve to be counted among the dungeon’s forces. They would not fail.

“Very well, your targets have arrived, good luck.” Nanna cut the communication then and there, her face showing a cold and calculating look but internally her heart was beating a mile a minute, her brave fa?ade close to crumbling.

“.....Big sis” Loki stuttered as he looked towards his usually gentle and caring sister, his hands trembling as he remembered the chill in her voice.

Nanna quickly turned towards her little brother, worried about his reaction.

“....You’re so cool, you sounded just like master.” Loki wasn’t trembling out of fear but out of excitement and respect, his big sister was so awesome.

His childlike and innocent response calmed down Nanna’s heart and brought a smile to her lips, she felt proud.

Clap clap clap

.....

Maya clapped her hands together in applause.

“Very well done Nanna, you sounded just like him, good job.” Maya smiled and nodded while presenting the young phoenix kin with a thumbs up. She was very much impressed by the young girl’s grandiose atmosphere, very superior like despite her strength being rather pitiful. Seeing her act so well made Maya want to train this little girl into a proper queen bee, strong enough to command anything just like her.

While Nanna was getting praise and encouragement from her family the monster wave had made its way into the winter forest, brutally charging through the vast arrangement of trees, crushing many under their paws and hooves as they progressed straight ahead.

The secondary defence zone was an arrangement of dozens of bunkers spread out throughout the middle of the winter forest, the shortest path towards the third section.

The vast horde quickly came across these bunkers that were a combination of wood, ice, pykrete and even iron. Heavily fortified and obscured, protecting and hiding those that dwelled within. These bunkers would initially serve as mighty boulders standing their ground against the rampaging wave, splitting it up into smaller tendrils before ultimately letting loose.

Boom Boom Boom

The heavy sounds of the stampede’s charge could be heard all around a few of these frontline bunkers, causing the very ground to shake. Occasionally one of the monsters would crash into the side of them before moving on, causing the monsters present within to tense up.

“Not yet, keep your heads down and remain quiet. We’ll wait until a large amount have passed by before beginning our attack.” A yuki-onna that governed these vanguard bunkers quietly whispered towards her subordinates, keeping them calm and collected. The plan was for the bunkers to deal damage over time, gradually chipping away at the horde but if they acted to early the entire wrath of the wave would be concentrated on these few bunkers. The deeper the wave penetrates into the forest the wider their once tight formation became.

“Hold, Hold” The yuki-onna continued to order her subordinates to hold their fire and remain silent though she herself was struggling to contain her desire to bathe the swarm in her ice magic. She couldn’t act until they received the single from the grand commander. Once the horde reached the third set of bunkers where Findlay was stationed the attack would begin.

“Section one leader you can begin your attack now, we have the horde in our sights, good hunting.” Findlay’s voice appeared through his use of the dungeon menu bringing a wild smile to the yuki-onna’s face as she listened.

“All units open fire!!” She suddenly hollered at the top of her voice, immediately alerting some of the horde but it didn’t matter.

Don! Don! Boom! Boom! Crash!

A moment later the bunkers went on full attack mode, frost and ice dwarves appeared from within the bunkers and rained down arrow fire and spells upon the horde, taking them by surprise.

“[Blizzara]” The yuki-onna wasn’t one to let her subordinates have all the fun. The moment the order was given she chanted the aria for her third circle spell [blizzara] starting off the festivities on a grand scale.

In response to the yuki-onna a large ice blue magic crest appeared before one of the polar werebears, large enough to encapsulate it’s entire frame before.

Schwooom!

A dense, freezing crystal of ice rapidly formed and expanded from the centre of the polar werebear quickly locking the majority of its body within, halting its movements before.

Shatter!

The crystal entrapping the polar werebear shattered, the crystal pieces enveloping the werebear broke off, the flesh inside already frozen and fused with the crystal. Rapid freezing along with an explosion that was [blizzara] the 3rd circle magic spell and the evolved form of the [blizzard] spell. Far more destructive and far more deadly.

The polar werebear was bleeding profusely, its body in pieces, the remaining intact flesh nowhere near enough to sustain its life. Its blood red eyes quickly receded as the eternal darkness swiftly took hold. An upper D-rank monster was killed in an instant by the C-rank yuki-onna, its resistance to ice magic too low to prevent the effects of a 3rd circle spell. The difference between D and C-rank monsters was made quite clearly with that one attack.

The caster of such magic didn’t even feel much strain, the natural mana filled environment and her connection to the dungeon making her more powerful that a regular yuki-onna. The yuki-onna smiled in pure bliss, loving the feel of using her magic in such an environment, she quickly set her sights on her next targets.

Of course such a grand declaration didn’t go unnoticed, many of the monsters turned their attention towards these bunkers that had suddenly came to life and began attacking them however the points of attack were few, practically one in fact, the entrance.

That’s where the close combat fighters come into to play, each narrow entrance to the bunkers now had a stalwart defender placed there. Frost revenants and ice dwarves bravely took on this role.

The moment some of the bears and bulls tried to attack the narrow bunker entrances these defenders made their presence known, slashing out aggressively at the attackers and pushing them backwards.

With so many bunkers in action the attacking forces were divided, the vast majority continued forward driven by their instincts to devour the dungeon core. It also helped that most of this majority didn’t notice the attacks from the bunkers thanks to the careful targeting of the soldiers. The ones that did notice and attacked were further broken up by which bunker to attack creating a fairly manageable environment in which a few close combat defenders were all that was needed to endure.

Deeper in the winter forest at the second line of defence a very similar situation was happening. Another yuki-onna in charge of this area casted [icy road], brazenly cutting off another section of the horde, so far everything was going as planned. The deeper the horde entered the more fractured they would become, dividing up the forces equally among the defence zones....well almost equally.

“Time for us to take out a large chunk don’t you think.” Findlay spoke with a wild smile towards his two partners placed here in the third defence zone, the area with highest aggregate power as well as bunkers. Ballistae could even be seen crowning some of the bunkers in this area. Here they would take care of the largest chunk of the enemy, allowing only a small majority through to the fourth defence zone.

“My great sword will finally taste blood heheheheh” The C-rank ice revenant by Findlay’s side replied in an excited voice, his blue flame body dancing at the prospect.

“Roar!” Kiba not one to remain quiet roared out just as excited as his two teammates. These three given that Frost was indisposed wanted to take full advantage of the battlefield, diving right into the thick of it.

“All units attack!” Findlay roared out his order before both he, Kiba and the ice revenant leaped from their positions to stand smack dab in front on the encroaching horde. They’d take advantage of their superior strength to decimate scores of the bears and bulls without relying on effective tactics. Once you reach a certain level of power all tactics and strategies become meaningless. A single swat from an overpowered entity could see entire frontlines decimated despite being in a tight formation.

Without an ursa backing these guys up and with them so separated Findlay, Kiba and the ice revenant working together would see little to no danger. Plus with their active participation the wave should end rather swiftly, proving to Nanna and ultimately Frost that they were strong and capable of protecting the dungeon.